Dark N' Spunky | Dark Chocolate, Vodka, and Cranberry Ice Cream

In this video I will show you how to make dark chocolate vodka and cranberry ice cream. The ingredients we use are milk, heavy cream, sugar, chocolate, cocoa powder, vodka, and dried cranberries. The quantities of the ingredientes are designed for chocolate with 70% cocoa solids. If you prefer to use chocolate with a different cocoa content, please refer to the description box below for the necessary adjustments. We will also use xanthan gum and gelatin. Xanthan gum thickens the ice cream mixture and gives a fantastic mouthfeel and texture. Without the need for egg yolks. You can skip it if you like, but you will need to increase the amount of heavy cream in the recipe to compensate for the lack of body. Gelatin is the key ingredient to incorporate a significant amount of vodka into the ice cream, while ensuring that it churns beautifully and doesn't melt too quickly during serving. Step one, prepare the ice cream mixture. Soak the cranberries in the vodka syrup. Place the sugar into a heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Stir to dissolve the sugar completely. Pour the vodka over the syrup. Add the lime zest if using and stir. Add the dried cranberries and stir to ensure that all cranberries are submerged in the vodka. Cover and set aside at room temperature to soak for at least eight hours. During this time, the cranberries will absorb the vodka syrup and become plumpy and boozy. Prepare the gelatin. Place the gelatin leaves or granules into a flat bowl and pour a Stir around to moisten the gelatin. If using gelatin leaves, make sure they don't overlap. If they do, stir them often so they don't stick together. Set aside. Dissolve the sugar in cocoa powder. Add the cocoa powder and the sugar into a medium saucepan and stir thoroughly to combine, breaking down any cocoa lumps with a rubber spatula until the mixture is uniform. Pour a generous splash of the measured milk into the saucepan and stir with a rubber spatula to thoroughly moisten the sugar and cocoa powder. Scrape the saucepans bottom corners and sides until they feel entirely smooth and free of solidified lumps. Take your time with this step as it will prevent dry residues from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan during boiling. Add one third of the remaining milk and all the heavy cream to the saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Warm over medium heat, often stirring, until the cocoa dissolves and the milk is hot and steamy. Increase the heat to high. As soon as the milk comes to a boil, immediately remove it from the heat. Add the chopped chocolate to the saucepan. Whisk to melt the chocolate. Pause whisking once to scrape the bottom and sides of the saucepan, then whisk again. The whisk should come out clean of chocolate residues. Pour the hot chocolate mixture into the blender jug and turn the blender on. Note that by now the blending mixture is still warm, which is perfect for adding the xanthan gum. With the blender on, carefully remove the cap and slowly sprinkle the xanthan gum over the blending surface of the mixture, avoiding the sides of the cap. Add the softened gluten leaves or granules along with milk. Blend for two minutes to fully hydrate the xanthan gum. Do not estimate the time. Set a timer. Do not expect the blend to thicken. It will thicken as it cools. Pour the remaining cold milk into the empty saucepan and stir it with a rubber spatula scraping the bottom and sides to gather any cocoa residue. Then transfer the milk into the blender and blend until smooth, stopping once to scrape any residue off the sides and bottom. Continue blending until the mixture is a uniform brown color with no streaks. If your blender isn't large enough to hold all the milk at once, do it in batches. Use the second batch of milk to collect cocoa residue from the blender jug. Do your best to collect cocoa residue from the blender, then pour into the rest of the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Finally, add the vodka and whisk it in. Step two. Refrigerate overnight. The ice cream mixture is lukewarm. Place it in the fridge until completely cold for at least eight hours and up to three days. Step three. Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker. First, strain the vodka-soaked cranberries using a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl. Gently stir to release as much vodka syrup as possible. Transfer the strained cranberries to a separate bowl and place them in the freezer to chill while the ice cream churns. Take the chilled ice cream mixture out of the freezer and stir it thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Use an immersion blender to blend the mixture. This ensures a smooth texture. If you skip blending, the ice cream might be grainy. Stop once during blending to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with the spatula. Prepare the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. With the machine running, pour the ice cream mixture into the ice cream maker bowl. Leave to churn until it becomes creamy and wavy. The time this takes varies depending on the ice cream maker and can be anywhere from 30 to 70 minutes. In my ice cream maker, it takes 35 minutes to achieve the desired consistency. Add the vodka-soaked cranberries one tablespoon at a time, allowing them to incorporate fully before adding the next tablespoon. You can help them in with a spoon, making sure the spoon does not touch the moving paddle. Continue to let the mixture churn until all the cranberries are fully incorporated. If the machine stops before this happens, you can add the cranberries and mix them in by hand. Step four. Put in the freezer to set. Remove the ice cream bowl from the ice cream maker, taking out the paddle and scraping the ice cream into the bowl. At this point, the ice cream should have the consistency of soft serve. Place the bowl in the freezer for a few hours to allow the ice cream to set properly. Serve or store. Once the ice cream is scoopable, you can either serve it immediately or transfer it to a different container for longer storage. Make sure to cover it well to protect it from the smells in the freezer. It can be kept in the freezer for up to one month. Thanks for watching and let me know in the comments if you have any questions. Happy churning!